Odel wins Best Retail Development award

Sri Lanka's fashion retail inspiration ODEL has won international acclaim with its flagship at Alexandra Place being adjudged the Best Retail Development outlet in the country at the 2009 Asia Pacific Commercial Property Awards.

A Colombo City landmark, the colonial-time mansion converted in to Sri Lanka's most popular department store and meeting place for the style savvy, will be presented with the Five Star award, the top accolade at a gala awards ceremony in Singapore.

The Asia Pacific Commercial Property Awards are presented annually by International Property Awards Ltd, an affiliation of CNBC.

The award assesses aspects such as accessibility, appearance and finish, architecture and placement of units at this outlet, which was once a stately residence in Colombo. In addition to the exterior and interior appearance of the building, the appraisal for the award also looked at the communal, leisure and other facilities and services that the development offers as well as factors such as safety, security, sustainability, innovation and marketing.

"Just as much as the actual products we sell, it is the inimitable ambience of the property that makes ODEL one of Sri Lanka's most popular shopping destinations," said Otara Gunewardene, Founder and CEO of ODEL. "It is an ever-evolving nucleus of goods and services that appeal to a wide audience. We consider this a most fitting tribute to our efforts of several years."

The exterior view of ODEL's main building remains virtually unchanged, giving the outlet a distinguishing old world grandeur that makes it distinctively different from the modern shopping malls elsewhere in the city.

The interior, extending to 35,000 square feet also retains the rooms, wooden main staircase and ceilings that testify to the buildings origins.